The Molecular Medicine and Translational Science program participates in the SROP (Summer Research Opportunities) program sponsored by the Wake Forest University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The following is a list of available research projects for the Molecular Medicine and Translational Science Graduate program for summer ’09.  For information on how to apply, follow this SROP Graduate School link.

Cristina Furdui, Ph.D.
Internal Medicine/Molecular Medicine

Research in our laboratory is directed towards applying advanced systems biology methodologies to i) investigate the timing of signaling events in the propagation of receptor tyrosine kinases signaling, ii) quantify the effect of oncogenic mutations or oxidation on the re-wiring of these signaling networks under pathogenic conditions, iii) apply clinical proteomics to identify molecular predictors of response to different  cancer therapies in an effort to create personalized therapies; and iv) interface time-resolved mass spectrometry with microfluidics technology and develop new nanokinetics platforms for quantitative monitoring of rapid enzyme kinetics/drug screening assays to further our understanding of potential drug targets at molecular level. To accomplish our goals, we are taking a cross-disciplinary approach based on:

• proteomics methodologies,
• specific instrumentation for cellular stimulation with growth factors with millisecond time resolution,        
•  highly specific molecular probes for the detection of sulfenic acid containing proteins as key intermediates in redox signaling, and
• computational methods to integrate and evaluate the massive amount of data generated by the proteomics approach.    

Mark Van Dyke, Ph.D.
Regenerative Medicine

Using keratin biomaterials to treat spinal cord injury.

Michael Seeds, Ph.D. & Duncan Hite, M.D.
Internal Medicine/Molecular Medicine/Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergic and Immunologic Disease

Our laboratories have several projects on the inflammatory biochemistry of lung diseases.  Specific tasks, suitable for a summer project, are given here.  More information can be gathered clicking either faculty link. 

Project 1.  Secretory Phospholipase A2 proteins mediate lung injury during a variety of lung diseases.  However, there are 10 human genes coding different sPLA2 proteins, and the identity of the specific sPLA2 proteins in the injured lung is unknown.  The task will be to develop novel ELISAs for specific phospholipase A2 proteins, since only one ELISA for one of the ten proteins is commercially available at present.  Using antibodies raised by our laboratory, the student will develop immunoassays and ELISAs for use in analyzing inflammatory proteins in archived patient samples from a study on Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. 

Project 2.  sPLA2 are microbicidal and may be an important part of innate host defense against invasive microbes in the lung.  However, bacteria in biofilms are particularly resistant to clearance in host tissue.  Using recombinant proteins cloned in our laboratory, the task will be to develop novel microplate microbicidal assays using phospholipase A2 proteins and biofilm bacterial targets.  This project is in collaboration with Dr. Ed Swords (microbiology) and Dr. Tim Kute (pathology).